The Walk Back

Posted on Fri 14th Aug, 2020 @ 6:38am by Yuliette Marayan Dr. & Radak

1,291 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Resolution
Location: Brown Sector: Zodiac
Timeline: MD12

For a moment she paused, looking past Radak, through the airlock glass at the little view of a starry sky beyond. Yuliette thought about what Radak had been saying about people coming to get away from who they used to be and she didn't exactly feel that it described her. Had Radak done something or been someone he was avoiding before he found himself in that Jeffries tube? And would he even fit in a Jeffries tube? "Why did you come here?" Yuliette asked as they started back.

“I didn’t like where I was,” he replied. “I was...conscripted by Orion pirates after they raided my colony when I was a kid. I was with them for a while, until I wasn’t. I came here. There wasn’t a lot in the way of official records for me, and if I drew attention to myself and some of my old shipmates heard about it, it could be trouble. So I just stayed.”

"Oh. Wow." That was a pretty heavy turn for a kid. She felt her perspective shift concerning her situation. "I got pressed into service too. Not when I was a kid. Not by pirates. I mean, recently I—" She stopped herself. How badly she wanted to tell someone. Him. He was just so reassuring. It wasn't his size exactly. Although she couldn't deny she wasn't afraid of the dim twisting alley with him striding along with her. It was just his quiet, plain speak. And how he gently deferred to the elders she'd seen him with. "—This is the first place I could land. I feel like I just fell out of the sky and I'm still reeling."

Radak smiled. “There’s a lot of that,” he replied. “Some people stay here their whole lives, and some people pass through like they were never here. There’s nothing wrong with either way, I guess. Sometimes you just need a place to stop and catch your breath. We’re good for that, too.”

"I don't know if I'd fit in here." She looked aside as they walked, frowning. "I've had really mixed reception, I guess you could say."

“People are desperate here,” Radak said. “A lot of them don’t trust easy. Some of them don’t trust at all. The rest of them you shouldn’t trust. You’re smart. You’ll figure it out.”

"I'm not sure I'm the right kind of smart. A young man in the marketplace up in town taught me to 'haggle'." She smiled. "Ren Zakiel."

“Haggling? Is that what he calls it? Everybody in the market hates to see Ren.”

"Really?" She looked shocked. "Floppy haired teenager with lanky arms and a birthmark on this cheek?" She pointed to her face about where the kid had his birthmark. "He was really nice. Does someone else in his family have the same name?”

“No,” Radak said. “He’s just too good at what he does. Nobody ever gets the better of him on a deal. Kid likes to bargain more than he likes anything else.”

"Ah. Maybe he just wanted to share his interest then. Well anyway, after I shopped, I came back to my apartment and there's someone beating his own son senseless in the hall. I don't understand that at all."

Radak turned towards her, raising an eyebrow. “Beating his son? Do you know who it is?” That was something Kainon would want to know about.

"It was some Naussicaan father and son. My neighbors seemed to think it was perfectly normal."

“Ah.” Radak nodded, calming down. “The Nausicaans. We know about them. It’s apparently normal in their society. It’s basically the equivalent of a strong scolding to them.”

She shook her head with disapproval. "And this shirt-" She held out the front of it. "It's printed up with something in Bajoran. I can't even read it. Tell me it's not something obscene or abhorrent.”

“You’re in luck. That’s all the Bajoran I know and none of that is familiar.”

At that she laughed whole heartedly, and the feeling seemed to wash the other more shitty feelings away. "Thanks."

“You’re welcome,” Radak said. She had an easy laugh. Melodic. He found that he liked it a lot. “If you were to stick around, would you mind if I stopped in from time to time? To check on you?”

Yuliette saw the brighter light of the main drift ahead and felt regret that the walk seemed to end so soon. "I wouldn't mind," she said earnestly.

“You like Bajoran food? There are some good places around here. Most of it’s Bajoran, though.”

"I want to try some. I haven't really had any other than a hasperat stand by the hospital where—" She paused and then shrugged. Radak already knew she was a doctor. "It was on Risa, but it was some kind of franchise."

“You’ve been to Risa?” He asked, looking over. “What’s it like? I always heard it was paradise.”

She sighed and closed her eyes, missing some things and despising others. "Brilliant sunshine, unbelievable landscapes. The ocean is impossibly blue and clear, the nightlife spins you around.... I'd visit again in a heartbeat if I could. But living there? I don't know. Vapid people everywhere." She chuffed. "Faker than the hasperat."

“Did you actually live there?” Radak said, shocked. He’d never lived anywhere but his spare, small colony, and even more spare and small Orion ship, and Brown Sector. Of the three, Brown Sector was the loveliest of the bunch.

Yulitte nodded.

“You’ve really been around, haven’t you?”

She smiled at his wonderment. It seemed so odd. "A few places." As they came towards the stairwell to her apartment, she lingered in the middle of the Drift. "Were you getting dinner now or... did you mean some other time, or..."

Radak hesitated, a little surprised by the question, if it meant what he thought it meant. “I could definitely eat,” he said. “If you can.”

At his hesitation, Yuliette wasn't sure if she'd misinterpreted his earlier question. Maybe he had only wanted to know if she liked Bajoran food and it hadn't been an invitation at all. She grew a little embarrassed. Had she put him on the spot?

The grouchy Bajoran fruit vendor that always set up near her balcony had packed up his cart for the evening and now pushed it between them as they blocked his way. "Oh for Prophet's sake, make way already."

Radak stepped aside, used to having to make accommodations for his size. “I get in the way a lot,” Radak explained. “Anyway. Are you hungry?”

"Yeah. I can eat." Probably no where near as much as he could put away judging just by the size of him. She smiled to herself. "Let me just get my bag. I'll be right down." Yuliette headed up the stairs, digging for her keys. She didn't have a lot of seed money left, but she couldn't expect Radak to buy. Wraiths! She'd practically asked him out. She ran a hand through her hair and wondered if she shouldn't offer to pay, entire.

“Sure,” Radak said. “I’ll be here. You can’t miss me.” He put his hands in his pockets and wondered if she asked out of politeness or something else. But she’d asked, and he’d said yes and maybe that meant something. Maybe? Radak shook his head. Sometimes he thought too much. When he was a kid, and still learning the Vulcan way, his grandfather always told him he didn’t think enough. Now it felt like the opposite problem. But she asked and he said yes. Maybe that meant something.

 

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